A bookkeeper strangled his wife after cycling to her house late at night, it was alleged yesterday at a murder trial in the Central Criminal Court.
Prosecution counsel Mr Michael Durack SC told a jury that the accused, Mr Paul Donoghue, tried to make it look as if a burglar had killed his wife. He said Mr Donoghue's fingerprints were found on a bottle of vodka and on a reference which his wife, Miriam, needed for a job. Her body was found beside her bed. She had been strangled.
Mr Durack said "a mysterious mark" was found on a glass above Ms Donoghue's bed. He said gardai did not have an explanation for the mark and it did not come from Paul or Miriam Donoghue.
It was the first day of the trial of Mr Donoghue (44), Aberdeen Street, Dublin 7, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder or manslaughter of Ms Miriam Donoghue (42) at her home in Ashfield Gardens, Mulhuddart, Dublin, on or about January 25th, 1997.
Mr Durack said Mr Donoghue worked in bookkeeping and accountancy and his wife was a secretary in an accountancy firm. In 1989, Mr Donoghue was made redundant and problems arose in his marriage.
He and his wife were drinking and had a debt problem. In July 1996, their home was repossessed. They moved to Aberdeen Street near the Phoenix Park and Ms Donoghue later moved to Mulhuddart.
On October 30th, 1996, they reached a separation agreement and Mr Donoghue was allowed custody of the children at weekends. On Friday, January 24th, 1997, he called to his wife's home and picked up their two children. At 8 p.m. the following Sunday, he brought them back to the house and saw Ms Donoghue's body in the bedroom. She was dressed in a tracksuit and socks. Mr Donoghue called an ambulance and later gave gardai an account of his movements over the weekend.
Mr Durack said it was the State's case that Mr Donoghue had put the children to bed in his house and had cycled back to his wife's home and strangled her. He tossed various objects around to make it look like a burglary. He then cycled home and brought the children back on the Sunday.
Mr Durack said Mr Donoghue had the motive and the opportunity to kill his wife and the jury would be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that the State had proved its case.
Ambulance worker Mr Paul Burnell said Miriam Donoghue lips had turned blue and she had no pulse when he was called to the house on Sunday night. He saw that Ms Donoghue's two children were very upset but Mr Donoghue was not. Mr Burnell denied a suggestion by defence counsel, Mr Hugh Hartnett, that his recollection was mistaken.